Scientists from Northwestern University in Evanston (USA) led by Ken A. Paller reported in Science that the reproduction of specific sounds during sleep can be accomplished better remember what has been learned before falling asleep.

Science never has given much credence to claims that you can learn English or Chinese background by putting a recording during sleep. If you learn something like that would be because the sound of the lesson the student wakes up, not because the nouns and verbs permeate the sleeping mind. At least this was the point of view so far. The study to which we refer is causing a very interesting debate to question this view, at least in part.

The work addresses colaboradoress Paller and auditory stimuli during sleep in a different way and to understand better how the brain works during sleep. Not only that, it might be useful to people studying languages, prepare for an exam or need to memorize a text.

The researchers taught a group of volunteers to put 50 images in their correct positions on a computer screen. Each image was accompanied by a sound related: a meow for a cat, the sound of the helicopter rotor, etc..

Then, 12 subjects slept for a while, during which 25 of the 50 sounds were reproduced with white noise. When they awoke, none had realized that the sounds were reproduced nor could guess what had been. Yet almost everyone remembered more accurately the locations in the computer images associated with the 25 sounds that were heard while they slept.

This study provides a new dimension to the theory that the dream to process and consolidate memories. The volunteers slept 90 minutes or less, enough to enter the phase of slow waves corresponding to deep sleep, but not to reach the REM stage. The idea of researchers disrupt sleep at this point was based on the assumption that it is in the phase of slow waves in the brain enhances the memories of events, while in REM sleep the brain sort and organize memories .

While a 2007 study found that people who smelled of rose essence while learning a task better if they remembered the task also rose essence inhaled while sleeping, the new study suggests that memories of specific data can be explicitly identified to be reinforced.

The researchers say the study's main contributions are his contribution to the understanding of the manufacturing process of memories in the brain and strengthen the importance of sleep a sufficient number of hours.

The origin of the study was to explore whether the auditory cues could help boost cognitive behavioral therapy for people with depression or anxiety. In other areas, the method probably can not teach new information, but reinforce what has already been learned. The panacea for the opposition.